I love catching reruns of older TV shows, sometimes even those that were before my time as a teenager. Within a few days of each other, I saw episodes from two different shows, in which one girl has a crush on someone. That was at least part of the their overall stories. Both have a similar way of handling their feelings and to me, it’s all the more relatable.

Starting with the earlier series, “The Facts of Life,” Natalie (Mindy Cohn) admires a guy in secret, yet it all ends up out in the open in one episode. When it came to having a crush on someone, I always wanted to keep my feelings hush-hush. In high school, I could never tell if the guy I fell so hard for knew…whether through someone else or on his own. Curious interactions with him kept me guessing. There was playful teasing coming from him and never knowing what to make of it, as well as being so shy, all I could do was giggle at his wild antics. My best friend and I remember when he’d call out my name in class, sounding so tempting. I’d glance back at him to see his devilish grin flashing my way, his eyes twinkling with mischief. That expression always made my heart melt and I’d turn away quickly, fearing he could sense my feelings if we made eye contact long enough. Or, would my best friend giving me a teasing glance at my reaction to him reveal everything? Before going on to the next series, there’s one more thing about this show. I’ll have to write more about it sometime in another post. It’s so striking to watch “The Facts of Life” now, what with how different teen-focused TV is these days.

Next, I caught an episode of “Roseanne,” in which Darlene (Sara Gilbert) has a guy over at the Conner house for a date. She’s awkward in trying to follow some flirting advice. Watching the scene, I doubted even with my shyness that I’d be that awkward and after all, it’s a TV show and the situation could be exaggerated for comedy. For me, it would’ve come through in not knowing what to say to my crush…or if I should respond in a flirty way at all, afraid of reading his actions wrong. The guy I had such a huge crush on in high school was the first time someone so gorgeous had been as attentive to me as he’d been. He offered to defend me against some creepy guy (so sweet!), was helpful in other ways. A few close moments happened that didn’t seem as though he was outright hitting on me, at least not in my mind. Dealing with such encounters for the first time, I just wasn’t sure what it meant. Not only that, but never thinking I was his type, I tended not to assume he was showing interest in those close moments. So, of course, my own reaction would be shyness and awkwardness.

Along with how well myself and many others could relate to such TV show scenes of teenage love, it’s the nostalgia and memories. They take me back to those similar moments when I was a teen girl with a heart beating for a certain someone. I’ll never forget any of those times.